China is open to negotiating trade with the United States but will only begin talks if U.S. leaders show respect, a former top Chinese economic official said in an interview in Singapore, Bloomberg reports.

“If the U.S. wants China to totally accept the U.S. proposal, to accept the U.S. conditionality, I think there’s no negotiation,” said Zhu Guangyao, who was China’s Vice Minister of Finance from 2010 to 2018.

Zhu said teams from the U.S. and Bejing have been in contact since the trade war began two weeks ago, but discussions over Trump’s reciprocal tariffs must be based on mutual respect, peaceful co-existence, and the aim of benefitting each nation.

Chinese imports to the U.S. are now being tariffed 145%, while American exports to China are being hit with a 125% rate — levies so high that trade between the world’s two biggest economies is likely to come to a complete halt.

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China is already facing the economic pressures of deflation, sluggish consumer demand and a real estate slump. UBS forecasts China’s economy will expand only 3.4% this year.

Zhu, however, said China has “full confidence” its gross domestic product will grow 5% this year, adding that China has “full capacity” to ramp up spending.

As deputy finance minister until 2018, when he retired, Zhu oversaw the Customs Tariff Department and negotiated with the U.S. on trade.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said President Trump expects to enter direct trade negotiations with China “at some point,” though “we’re not there yet.”

Trump has said he’s waiting for China’s President Xi Jinping to call him, repeatedly calling Xi a friend for whom he has “great respect.”

Zhu criticized the U.S. tariffs as being highly damaging to China’s national interests and said Beijing will not give in to external pressure. He added that coercion from Washington, D.C., will not resolving the trade dispute.

When asked if China might sell its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds, Zhu said China is a “very responsible investor” that wants to ensure the stability of global markets. China owns $700 billion of U.S. Treasuries, and is the second-largest foreign creditor after Japan.

“However, this is based on mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual cooperation,” Zhu said, referring to China’s position on its American debt holdings. “I really hope US and China can, based on mutual respect, return to negotiation.”

China appointed a new top international trade negotiator on Wednesday amid tariff tensions with the U.S.

Li Chenggang replaces Wang Shouwen, who participated in the trade negotiations for the 2020 trade deal between the China and the U.S.